


Come stand by me

by Lumeha



Series: Ironstrange Bingo 2019 [4]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternative Universe - Folklore, Changelings, Just slightly, M/M, Present Tense, they are changelings and a bit too weird even for a world full of weirdness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 21:51:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18949351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumeha/pseuds/Lumeha
Summary: MonsterIt follows him around and around and around. It is whispers in the dark, it’s arguments between his parents, it is the fear he sees when someone who knows him doesn’t recognize him. He is too sharp in mind and teeth ; too much and too little at the same time. A monster child. A fairy child. It is written on his face and in his history. The least hidden secret in the world, if they even tried.Anthony Edward Stark the changeling.





	Come stand by me

**Author's Note:**

> The title is taken from the absolutely beautiful poem "[A monstruous manifesto](https://catvalente.livejournal.com/610889.html)" by Catherynne M. Valente   
> I have Feelings related to monsters and monstrosity 
> 
> **Ironstrange Bingo** : Monster

_ Monster  _

It follows him around and around and around. It is whispers in the dark, it’s arguments between his parents, it is the fear he sees when someone who knows him doesn’t recognize him. He is too sharp in mind and teeth ; too much and too little at the same time. A monster child. A fairy child. It is written on his face and in his history. The least hidden secret in the world, if they even tried.  

Anthony Edward Stark the changeling.

The only peace is in the arms of a butler who accepts him no matter what, more of a father than any of his, and a mother who softly sings to him, apologizing that he will never see those that left him behind.

(apologizing for choosing the safety of her child among the fae over his)

_ Monster _

It is in his blood and in his fangs and in the way he makes the world bow to himself. It is in his genius and in his mind and words, an easy charisma and masks that no one wants to see beyond. People hate and love him in equal measure and it’s sweeter than isolation. He is Tony Stark, the changeling, the one who was never given back, and he refuses to look to the past. He doesn’t care enough to consider all the branches and all the possibilities around him, the falls and the ways he can crash and burn. 

He doesn’t care.

Too bad the universe doesn’t care either. 

He crashes and he burns and his heart is no longer his heart, weak and hurt. Saved by a sacrifice he is not sure he can ever honour. He learns that the world is uncaring, cold and cruel, and still so, so, so full of kindness when a stranger gives him hope and his best friend gets him out of the desert. Brings him back home.

(It is home but it is not ; he doesn’t fit, he doesn’t bend, he doesn’t melt himself into the human he was raised to be, and even if they love him, they don’t understand)

_ Monster _

The word follows him.

He can save the world and spill his blood, and all they see is the monster that took the place of the human. He hears it, more and more, even more than when he played fast and loose with too much money and weapons. But Earth is his, and the human world is Pepper’s and Rhodey’s and Happy’s and Bruce’s and Peter’s and so many others, and the human world is his, too, because he carved his place in it. 

And even in a world of aliens and gods and secret agents, the light in his eyes and the sharpness of his mind feels strange and other.

(but he meets humans and aliens who are a little bit broken, a little outside their own world, and he feels a kinship, even if it’s still lonely sometimes)

* * *

 

He sees recognition on a battlefield and he seeks the man whose eyes are storms and hands are broken china, too curious for his own good. Because there is something - a song in his bones, a too sharp smile on bloodied lips, and he wants to ask where he has been all these years. 

It is hide and seek and tag-you’re-it until one of them crashes in the other’s space, workshop or spellroom or on a couch in a living room. They never talk about this, this feeling of kinship, of  _ right _ . This feeling that they understand. Or Tony never does. But he wants to ask. He wants to ask so much. 

(He wants to ask if Stephen Vincent Strange felt alone in the world, left in a family that didn’t want him, that saw him as the imposter he was, the son that never was supposed to be theirs ; he wants to ask if Stephen Vincent Strange knew, deep in his bones, he was the monster in the corner, the one everyone says to avoid, because his words and his mind are too sharp and those of the fae are too dangerous ; he wants to ask if he ever prayed to not be the monster he was)

\- And what if you are a monster ?, the sorcerer says to him one evening, a sparkle in his eyes. Let them admire us. Let them know. 

It is recognition and it is admission and it is more. He takes the trembling hands between his, gentle and respectful of their power, and he clings to the deep voice, to the warmth. 

\- Be monstrous. Be yourself. They fear you ? They should. Because you showed them, time and time again, that they are wrong about you. 

He clings to the words, said with an unwavering faith. 

\- Let yourself be the changeling you are. I will love you all the same, Anthony.

And it feels like coming home. 


End file.
